


Adjustment

by BrightBlueHeels



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Friendship/Love, Meddling Kids, Parent-Child Relationship, Post Season 2, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-02-15 20:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2243277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightBlueHeels/pseuds/BrightBlueHeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an unexpected meeting Oliver Queen finds out he has a son. Now he has to figure out how to be a good dad, a CEO, and the Arrow in the same time. Especially since Connor's moving in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Felicity was sitting at her desk at QC, spinning round and round in her new chair, which Oliver ordered for her new office. While she was waiting for her first meeting to start she remembered the recent events as she slipped her coffee.

After three months they finally found a way to get back everything Slade and Isabel took from the Queens. Felicity did a lot of digging through Slade's records to find a lead but in the end she found the money, and with Walter's help they got back the company as well. QC had to be restructured since the Applied Science center got blown up and Isabel Rochev destroyed thirty years of tradition in a few months. Oliver reclaimed his position as CEO, but realized he had to actually care for his responsibilities at the company to avoid another hostile takeover. Due to the changes Felicity asked Oliver to give her her old job back and hire someone who was a real assistant. She made it pretty clear over the months that she’d hated dealing with schedules and obnoxious business people, so Oliver reluctantly agreed. His only condition to get a real EA, who knew what she was doing _and_ made him coffee, was that Felicity had to stay on the same floor as he. As IT was eighteen floors down that wasn’t going to work for him, he had to find an other position for her, and thanks to some “random” coincidences the new Applied Science director's office just happened to be located on his floor. He considered it as a win-win situation.

Of course Oliver had not learned from his previous mistake and made the decision without consulting her receiving one of the finer rambles full of innuendo, but fortunately for Oliver she did except it waaay better than her previous position.

As she threw the cup in the trashcan another image popped into her mind. She laughed out loud, thinking back to the night when she walked in late one night into the lair just to find Dig, Roy and Oliver sitting on the floor wearing head to toe black with various stains on them trash bags spilled out around them. She still couldn't understand why the guys went dumpster-diving for the hardcopies, but it still entertained her every time she thought about it. Naturally there wasn't anything she hadn't found before, but it made her boys feel useful. _Brrrr,_ they smelled for days even after a dozen of showers, not to mention the mess they made in the place.

She just made another spin as her computer beeped. It was Oliver texting him using the secure messaging program she made for them, so he would stop shouting every time he needed her for something. 

‘What are you doing?'

'Nothing...' she snickered knowing her answer wouldn't satisfy him.

'Come on! I can hear you laughing all the way from my office. Is it that cat again?'

'Nope, not Grumpy cat. I was thinking about a dumpster-diving Grumpy and his friends ;)'

'Felicity', Wow he was using just her name to say whole paragraphs even through the internet.

'That was your Grrrr voice, right?!' she even made a little tiger craw while she wrote her answer.

'No.'

'Oh, it totally was.’

‘I'm craving Italian for lunch, you in?'

‘Nice topic change, but yes, I’d love some pasta. Thanks. :)’

'Sure. Noon. My office.' She just chuckled at his to-the-point answer and started to look at the new project proposals.

Since they took down Slade, three months ago, Oliver changed visibly, well at least when it was just the team around. He was still his brooding self, but smiled more, and seamed more settled than she's ever seen him, like some of the weight's been lifted of his shoulders. Was it the win over Slade, Isabel, and the mirakuru; Gorgeous Laurel finally knowing the truth about the Arrow; or what Felicity secretly hoped for, that he told her the truth about his feelings in the mansion that night. She tried not to dwell on that too much, but concentrate on celebrating his less serious attitude.

It all started with a simple offer to a partner/friend/boss. She was actually surprised that she could persuade Oliver to stay at her guest room while they were getting his assets back. Obviously he put up a fight, claiming that he could sleep anywhere, but her pleading smile and the threat of her loud voice made him cave instantly.

He lived with her for almost three months, in this time they got used to a routine that fit them both. After coffee and breakfast (who knew he can make the best chocolate chip pancakes?!). They worked on the various leads, then he got frustrated and started his work out in her living room (shirtless, of course), or went for a run. He didn’t go out in the evenings, not to patrol nor to meet with leggy models. Both the QC CEO and the Arrow disappeared from the public.

Meanwhile Oliver was wedged out on the couch in sweatpants with his most trusted friend next to him. She watched her DVR backlog and he watched her. He brought the wine, she made dinner (okay-okay, sometimes ordered it), and they spent their days contently in their little cocoon without the interruption of the outside world. While she tried not to think about on it too much she was aware that slowly they became more than friends, they were not lovers, she would say they were partners, whatever that meant.

In the beginning she talked constantly about anything from the pranks they pulled at MIT to her thoughts on global warming, slowly day by day he started to give more than just short answers, and became a real participant in the conversation. By the time they repossessed their offices they became inseparable, they relished in each other's company even if they never stepped over that invisible line between friends and something more. He moved out of her apartment, back to mansion, though continued to spend most of his evenings on her couch or in the new lair with her.

Felicity was later so engrossed in her task she didn't hear Oliver opening her door.

"Hey! I've been waiting for you!" She almost fell out of her chair upon hearing his voice.

“Jesus! You scared me! What is it?" she asked still catching her breath.

“It's past noon.”

"Oh, lunch. Right, sorry. Just give me a sec. I lost track of time reading up on these projects. You know some of them are really amazing, we could use some of them for the green project. But others... You know I'm all for technology, but honestly who in their right mind thought that a Phone-mug is a good idea. You really have some crazy people working for you, and I don't necessarily mean it in a good way."

By the time she finished her rant they reached his office. She sat down on the couch, kicked off her heels and curled her legs beneath her. Oliver handed her a box with chicken fettuccine, and sat next to her with his own salmon tortellini.

"Here you go."

"Thanks."

"You've lost me. Which green project, because I’ve just spent an hour with Finance about that recycling plant in Coast City, and I remember you talking about that as well or you mean the other one? And what the hell is a phone-mug?”

“I meant the Arrow-y green, we really do need a code name for that. Golfing...? That's green and billionaire-y. Or... uhhhmmmm... gardening maybe? No, no one would believe that you're gardening," she smiled while she twisted her fork in the pasta.

“Those are the lamest code names ever, they would make me look like a douche or worse: like Carter Bowen. We could call it a private meeting."

"Until you clean up your image, they won't be surprised by a douchy Oliver Queen..."

"Hey!" he started to protest.

"What?! Just saying. And how is a ‘private meeting’ less douchy?" asked Felicity while making airqoutes. "And what if you have an actual meeting, then we're back to the confusion."

“Fine. We'll get back to this, when Digg comes back from his vacation, I'm sure he's going to say that a private meeting is a really good cover."

"Uhumm," she hummed dismissively around another forkful of food. They continued their meal in soothing silence, neither of them felt the need to say anything further until the containers were almost empty.

“Since the new equipment arrives next week to the mansion and the new lair, and we have nothing to do, I was thinking maybe we could watch…” he abruptly stopped in the middle of the sentence and slipped the CEO mask back into its place, as Jane, his new EA walked in.

"Mr. Queen, sorry for the interruption, but a Mrs. Hawke is here to see you. She does not have an appointment but says it’s urgent,” said Jane.

"All right, give me two minutes and send her in," answered Oliver and stood up to collect the remnants of their lunch as Jane left his office.

"Thanks for lunch. I'll leave you to your meeting." Felicity picked up her shoes and headed for the door. “So movie at my place?"

"Count me in," and Oliver gave her a small smile before she left the office.

On her way out of his office Felicity saw Mrs. Hawke, she wasn’t dressed like a businesswoman and the scared and tried look in her eyes just solidified her believe that this was something personal.


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity got lost in her coding as a thundering crash shook her office. She immediately knew it has something to do with Oliver. Felicity ran to the hallway, and saw the terrified Jane seeking cover furthest corner. She felt sorry for the poor woman. Felicity really liked Jane, she was in her late-forties, dressed in classy outfits, her brown hair in neat updos. She was the kind of mother figure Felicity wished she had, with Jane acting caringly towards her and Oliver just strengthened her ties with the older woman.

“What happened?” asked Felicity, keeping her voice calm, since tantrums are pretty normal with Oliver, but he usually refrains from rearranging furniture, unless it’s something big. Jane’s first Oliver-tantrum was apparently one for the history books.

"I don't know. Mrs. Hawke went in, then came out an hour later, I could see that she was crying. Ten minutes later it started with a breaking glass, and it just got worse. Should I call security, Ms. Smoak?" Felicity could see the fear in Jane's eyes, but as someone, who knew Oliver, she knew that in this state no security would be able to calm him down without a lot of casualties, but she couldn't tell her that.

“No, Jane, I’ll take care of it. Uhm... Mr. Queen just realized during lunch that he did not like the new office, apparently it's not...uhm... sexy enough, so he wants to remodel it. He is just using this opportunity to relive his glory days when they trashed hotel rooms on daily basis,” she was really getting better with coming up excuses, thank God. Fortunately Jane was too preoccupied to question her. ”Could you reschedule his meetings for next week and then you can leave early," said Felicity as she entered Oliver's office.

“Of course, Ms. Smoak,” heard Jane say behind her.

The office looked like a war zone. The glass of his desk was shattered around the metal frame, papers littered the floor, the laptop stuck halfway out of the cabinet, the chairs all flipped over. Oliver sat on the couch his shoulders hunched forward with a book laying in front of him, his otherwise impeccable gray jacket was on the floor next to a bottle of whiskey, half empty on its side, the amber liquid dripping to the hardwood floor. Felicity was pretty sure she had never seen him so lost before.

She started to approach him slowly like one would near a wild animal, but she knew that Oliver would never do anything to harm her. She called his name but nothing happened, he just kept staring at the book. As she reached him, she sat down and put her hand on his arm.

"Oliver?" she moved her hand to caress his head, he slightly turned into her touch. "Oliver, talk to me," she pleaded. Suddenly he hugged her, and gut-wrenching sobs left his body. They sat like this for hours, her arms fell asleep in their awkward position, but he was not letting her go like she was the only thing keeping him sane.

She had no idea what happened, but it had to be huge judging from his reaction. Her heart ached for him, even if she did not like to confess for herself she was in love with him, seeing him like this ripped her apart.

It was dark outside when he spoke for the first time. It was only a whisper, but in the empty office she could hear him perfectly.

“They lied to me."

"Who?" She had no idea what this was about.

"My mother, Sandra, everyone"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, but by the mention of his mother a weight settled in her stomech. Moira's secrets were still haunting them even after her death. How could that woman’s actions still affect them and what more is there for them to uncover about his mother? Felicity asked herself.

“Connor,” choked out Oliver.

"What? Who's Connor?" now she really felt lost. _Who's Connor? Does the lady from the afternoon have anything to do with it? Where does Moira come into the story? And who's Sandra?_ The questions are popping up in her mind, but only he had the answers.

“Connor's my son," he answered, and fell quiet.


	3. Chapter 3

“Connor’s my son."

Felicity froze immediately, looked at Oliver for clarification, but he remained silent. The haze slowly lifted from her mind and choked out a strangled “What?!”

As soon as the immediate shock was gone Felicity bombarded Oliver with questions, but he just sat in quiet.

“Oliver! What do you mean he is your son? How old is he? Is Sandra his mother? What do your mother and Mrs. Hawke have to do with it? How do you know he’s yours? Are _sure_ he is yours? What are we going to do?” She leaned back from his embrace to look at him. His eyes were trained on the floor, clearly avoiding to look at her.

“I don’t know, Felicity, I don’t know. Okay?!” The desperation was clear in his rising voice. Felicity felt lost, but knew she had to hold him together. This time she had to be the strong one for both of them. She needed to hear his story to figure out a plan; she’d been good with plans.

First she had to take Oliver away from his destroyed office to a place where he felt safe, and shake him out of the shock.

“Stand up! We’re leaving,” she jumped from the couch pulling him along but he wouldn’t budge.

“Felicity”

“Oliver, your office looks like a disaster zone, so we’re going to my place, sit down on the couch, maybe order some food, and you are going to tell me everything from the beginning.”

She stated it with so much authority, that Oliver just stood up and started to gather the book along with his cell phone and jacket. “I’ll grab my bag and we can leave, okay?” As an afterthought she yelled back from the hallway. “Oh and bring that bottle of scotch with you.”

They made it back to her apartment in her tiny car since Oliver wasn’t in a condition to drive. As they walked in the door both of them slipped in their well-rehearsed roles they’d established in the last few months. She changed from the dress she wore to the office to the tank top and pajama pants combo, while he took his usual spot on her couch, kicked off his shoes and socks, removed his tie, unbuttoned the top of his shirt and rolled up its sleeves. Soon she slumped next to him with a tray full of Star Wars shot glasses in her hands. She filled up the glasses and they drank two shots in quick succession.

“You know this isn’t the way to drink eighteen year old scotch?!” was the first thing Oliver said since leaving his office.

“Hardly the biggest issue right now, besides Yoda’d helped me with a lot of decisions so far!”

“I think you just want to monitor my consumption,” to prove his suspicion he drank one more shot of the amber liquid and started to organize the empty glasses into a tower.

After a lengthy silence Felicity spoke up.

“So...? Are you going to tell me, or I’ll have to tickle it out of you?” she was trying to make the situation a bit lighter, easing it for him. Even in his current state the corner of his mouth twitched a bit at her silliness.

“I just don’t want you to get disappointed in me. I’ve done a lot of stupid shit back then, and I...” said Oliver with an embarrassed expression.

“Hey, whatever happened back then, it was Ollie, the spoiled rich kid; not Oliver who’s the greatest man, friend and partner I ever met. I’m not going to hold Ollie’s actions against you.”

“Well then, just start at the beginning,” Felicity encouraged Oliver and ran her hands along his back.

“Okay… As you can imagine Sara wasn’t the first girl I had while being with Laurel," he snorted at the memories. “I've met Sandra at a fratparty, she was a good girl, but we were both drunk; she enjoyed Oliver Queen's attention and lets be honest I was a bigger ass back then, so we slept together.

“About a month later she contacted me and said she was pregnant with my kid. I panicked of course and tried to find a way to get out of the responsibility. God, I was such a dick.” He let out another sigh before continuing.

“Mom caught on that I was hiding something, and I confessed everything. Days later Sandra called me that she'd lost the baby and will move back to Central City. That was the last time I've heard of her. Honestly, I absolutely forgot about the whole thing.”

“Why haven’t I thought about it, doesn’t it makes me an even worse person?” he asked and turned his head away from the blonde in shame.

Felicity sat next to him in silence, stroking his back and hair with one hand, holding his hand with the other, reassuring him that he was not alone. This far into the story she had a pretty good idea of what was coming, but she hoped for Oliver’s sake that Moira Queen had not evilly paid for a poor girl to disappear with her unborn grandchild.

"The woman, who came to the office today was Mrs. Hawke, Sandra's mother. She told me my mother had paid them two million dollars to disappear and never to contact me again. Connor was born while I was on the island, so it made the Hawkes no difference, and I guess my mother wasn't interested in her grandchild to reach out later," he shook his head and raised a glass with the jedi-symbol in mock salute before emptying it.

"When I came back they were still afraid from my mother to tell me the truth. But three moths ago that got taken care of," snorted Oliver.

"Hey, don't say that! Your mom had done a lot of bad things, but she loved you and your sister very much. She always wanted the best for you in her twisted way. You know that, even if you feel betrayed right now. ...You know, considering your parents my family is the Brady bunch and trust me there are some twisted people, like my uncle Jim, he was a one-eyed bookie and cousin Veronica has this snake-charming venture, if you know what I mean...Yuck!... Oh! Sorry, please continue.”

“Mrs. Hawke only contacted me because my mother died, and thought that I might be interested in my son. I guess, when the cat’s away...”

“Oliver! I’m sure she would’ve called you eventually. Wait, why did Mrs. Hawke come and not Sandra?”

“Sandra died.” Felicity took a staggered breath.

“Oh, God, no.”

“She had an aneurism last summer and died by the time the ambulance arrived.” Felicity was squeezing Oliver’s hand so tightly, her knuckles turned white. “Her parents were taking care of Connor since then, but Mr Hawke had an accident and the recovery time will be months, the doctors are not sure if he’ll ever walk again. Mrs. Hawke said she wouldn’t be able to take care of them both. That is the only reason she reached out to me now.”

“She said I either man up and take Connor with me, even if she thinks I’m an irresponsible man-whore, or she’s sending him to some second cousin in Alabama.”

Felicity knew Oliver was blaming himself for the situation his mother created and for missing so much time of his son’s life, so she planned on doing anything that prevented Connor being taken away from his father.

“Oliver, I still don’t get the whole story, but no matter what we can’t let that happen. It will be an adjustment but he is your son, he’s one of our family. We have to figure out something!”

“We both know that not everything about your public image is true. It’s good for us, that she wants you to take Connor though we should be concerned why she’s handing over a precious child to a seemingly unfit person just like that... ”

“I’ve been thinking about that too, but I hope she wants to keep him close to herself rather than having him thousands of miles away. I’m aware that me taking him is the way to go, Felicity, but what do you suggest we do? Huh? Move him to the mansion, I resign; stay at home by day and in the evenings he’ll join us in the lair? Yeah, that would work out flawlessly.” Oliver stood up and started pacing in her apartment. Between the door and the window, seven paces to and fro.

“You know I’m all for sarcasm, but right now it won’t get us any further, and he goes to school anyways.” Felicity chastised him.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ve just been blindsided by this whole thing. I can’t believe I have a son. I have no idea what to do. I’m the worst dad ever,” he slumped back on the couch with resignation.

“You are not, and we’ll figure it out together. We’re a family; we take care of our own. We’re not going to let them send him to weird religious farm in Alabama.” Felicity’s never even seen a picture of Connor, but she was already protective of him. No one hurts her boys, if she can help it. She glanced around the room, her eyes fell on the album Oliver put on the coffee table. “Are these his pictures?”

“Mrs. Hawke left the album, I was afraid to look at it. Will you, please, look at it with me?”

“Of course, come on, let’s see those pictures.” She reached out for his hand, and he took it.

Felicity knew that the Oliver a year ago, heck even three months ago wouldn’t have been able to handle the situation this well, he’d never asked for help. He would have been up on the ladder or killing dummies with all the force he could have gathered. He kind of destroyed his office, but Felicity celebrates the small victories.

Along the way he must have realized that he was not alone, he had partners. Even if he tried to deny it, the woman next to him was his partner, the woman he loved, and the voice of reason in the darkest of night. Felicity was there for him, when nobody else stood beside him. Her quirky personality lighted up even his worst days. The days, when all he could think about were the things he’d done wrong. And right now, holding the pictures of the son he hadn’t known about but already loved, he appreciated having Felicity next to him even more.

They looked in silence at the various pictures of a blond boy with blue eyes. The album started with ultrasound pictures, went on with typical but incredibly cute baby pictures, displaying happy memories, but towards the end the young woman disappeared along with the smile on Connor’s face. Felicity spotted immediately when the boy lost his mother. Her heart broke for the child. She noticed that mother and son had similarities, but Connor looked exactly like the miniature version of Oliver. There was no doubt about them being related.

Felicity’s tears were falling and she could see Oliver’s eyes were misty as well. She was a woman of many worlds, but now she whispered the one thing she was absolutely sure about, the thing that made him believe that everything would work out just fine, because Felicity was always right.

“You are going to be an amazing dad.”


	4. Chapter 4

”Is everyone decent in there? Coz I really don’t want to see your naked butts!” yelled Diggle approaching the mansion’s library.

“Hey, Dig!” answered Felicity, as the man stepped into the room. “Why wouldn’t we be dressed? It’s the middle of the day, although Oliver does tend to lose his shirt a lot, (not that I mind, those are some gorgeous abs), he just likes to show off, which is totally not surprising. And I’m pretty sure you have a good guess what he has in his pants with the bromance you’ve got going. I don’t. Never seen it, we’re friends without the benefits. He did say he loved me, then he kinda took it back and it was only because of Slade anyways…”

“I didn't, you did,” hushed Oliver barley louder than a whisper, as his previously smiling face turned somber and moved his hand away from its seemingly permanent place on her shoulder. Although Felicity didn't hear his comment, she was saddened by the loss of his touch. She replayed what could've been the reason for him to create distance between them, and the only viable one was that he still wanted to keep her at arms length.

“Okay…? So what’s going on?” Diggle’d known Felicity for two years, her innuendos got worse when she was hiding something, and right now she was definitely hiding something.

“Nothing’s going on! How was the vacation? How's Lyla and the baby? Was everything ok?” she tried to change the topic, not being sure how Oliver wanted to tell the news about his son to John.

“Hawaii was great, they’re fine, she’ll tell you all about it over dinner. Maybe tomorrow?” asked Diggle, cutting short her weak attempts and started towards the desk the other two were hunching over.

“Sure, but I want to see pictures too!” even though her futile attempt she was looking forward for the dinner with Lyla and soon-to-be baby Dig. She'd already ordered some cute Robin Hood inspired baby clothes the week before, all with Oliver’s approval, because apparently cute is not enough: only hood green is good green for Baby Arrow. Felicity’d been surprised how invested Oliver seemed to be with Dig’s baby.

By the time she finished her musings Diggle walked behind the desk to catch a glimpse of the monitors the others were perusing before his arrival. On the two screens in front of them were pictures of Connor in various ages, and documents she'd dug up since they got over their initial shock. Felicity didn't try to change the screens, letting Oliver handle this on his own, no matter how much she was willing to help him, eventually it was his issue to deal with. Plus she still felt upset about his earlier reaction, no matter how cheap shot it was making him tell alone, it made her feel a bit better.

"Wow, they get younger and younger every time! He's not the new mark, is he?" asked Diggle having no idea why her team would research a little boy who looked surprisingly a lot like Oliver, but then it hit him.

"Holy shit! He's your kid!" exclaimed Diggle, not entirely believing his eyes.

"Yes, he's my son, Connor. He is seven." answered Oliver, reassurance and regret spreading inside of him, as Diggle's reaction solidified his belief that Connor was his son indeed.

"I suppose it was unavoidable that you had a kid somewhere out there with all the partying you did back in the day," now Diggle tried to lighten the mood, but his comment just reminded Felicity that next to all those leggy models she was still just an IT geek to him.

She jumped from her seat beelining for the door, while Oliver continued to tell Diggle everything they'd learned from Mrs. Hawke and Felicity's research in the last 24 hours.

"I'm going to run to the kitchen for some ice cream and let you guys talk, okay?" Felicity rushed out quickly to avoid her voice breaking. All the talk about hot sexy model exes and him giving the cold shoulder, or more like his hand not warming her shoulder made her want to drown her sorrows in ice cream or wine, she was not the picky type.

She had to leave the room before the two men saw her shedding tears over Oliver again. She went to her usual hiding spot in the mansion. She just settled with the pint of mint chip on the kitchen counter when she heard someone walk through the backdoor.

She knew Roy was at Verdant looking over the remodeling there. Oliver trusted him to manage the construction at the club till Thea came back. Roy matured a lot in the last months and knew the ropes as followed his sister around for months like a puppy. With the old lair beneath the club Oliver needed someone he could trust, to keep the prying eyes away from the basement as much as possible.

Raisa'd refused to look for another job while they got back the mansion and went to visit her daughter for that time, but she was planning to arrive just days later to help manage the household. With Connor possibly moving in, it was a very good and comforting idea, as Felicity wasn't sure Oliver could take care of a child on his own. She'd been the victim of his cooking skills in the previous months, so Raisa coming back comforted her.

After she ruled out the possible incomers she went investigating. The noises continued and blonde raised the only thing she had in her hands to fight the intruder. As she crept around the corner, she bumped into an equally small body. They both jumped back but her Diggle-improved reflexes acted faster than her brain could have interpret the incident and threw her weapon at her attacker.

"Did you seriously just threw a tub of ice cream at me?!" asked Thea incredulously, and picked up the paper cup.

Felicity couldn't believe her eyes, they hadn't heard of the younger Queen since the night they took down Slade. They initially thought she left town, but after reviewing some traffic cams they'd found out that Malcolm Merlyn took her somewhere and she went more or less willingly.

"Oh my God, Thea! It's you! We've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?! We’ve been soo worried! Poor Roy is lost like a puppy without you. Oliver's going to rip you a new one, he's been going batshit crazy already, and now this thing with Co..." Felicity scrambled all she wanted to say into high-speed one-breath rant, but Thea started to chant her name to get her attention. All she achieved though was for Felicity to change her topic.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you ok? I didn't mean to hit you, I mean I did, but not you. Did it hurt?" her voice reached a panicky quality as she checked the younger Queen over.

"No, relax, it's ice cream, I don't think it could be used as a deathly weapon," Thea tried to calm Felicity before she freaked out completely.

"I'm pretty sure your brother could find a way..." mumbled the blonde, but Thea caught on to it.

"So... Has he already killed with uhmmm..." she dug her finger into the melting dessert and stuck it into her mouth, "mint chocolate chip, or he sticks to his arrows?" asked nonchalantly Thea, as she was requesting information about the weather.

"A-arrows?" but the look on Thea's face told Felicity, that only the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth would satisfy Oliver's sister. With a sigh she relented. "Ok, I'll tell you everything, but we're going to need some ice cream and lots of alcohol. Well, Queen, show me your secret stash of goodies and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

They nodded in acceptance at each other and Thea led them back to the kitchen, went straight into the pantry, and then came out with a bunch of lemons and a bottle of fancy looking Patron.

"Lis, could you grab the rest?" The brunette picked up a knife and with that she went through the backdoor to the garden. Felicity gathered the remaining ingredients for their conversation and diligently followed the brunette to the greenhouse. They sat down in a small nook and Thea poured their first round.

"You Queens are going to turn me into an alkie, you know that right? This will be the second time in as many days, that is a habit in the making."

"Come on, Lis! Can I call you Lis? This is a $500 bottle of tequila, it's a waste not to drink it!" with that they started to polish of the clear and expensive liquid and the not-so-expensive ice cream.

"So Ollie is the Arrow, huh?", Thea kicked of her boots and curled her legs next to her on the love seat getting ready for a long night of confessions.

And with that Felicity launched into her Arrow-story not leaving out anything. She told Thea about the bullet-ridden laptop, their dealings with Vertigo, about the time, when Moira shot Oliver, Diggle, Tommy, Roy, the long line of leggy brunettes, Sara, and finally the whole Slade/Isabel/Blood debacle, including the mess his love-confession created.

While she was at it, and the continuous flow of tequila loosened her tongue, she finished of with their almost-but-not-quite love affair. As she was telling her story Thea inserted her comments ranging from 'Gosh, that is the most pathetic excuse ever!' to 'Why the hell couldn't he just trust me and tell the truth?!' and 'I totally knew she was an evil bitch!'. Throughout she laughed and cried but at the end it made more or less sense why his brother's been hiding so many things from her.

"And now tit for tat, lady! What have you been up to?" asked Felicity as she didn't feel like dissecting her current relationship with Oliver further or tell her about Connor, since she felt she'd done a big favor to him by telling everything to Thea, he'd just try to rewrite his story to a Disney-version, and that would make a majorly pissed Thea Queen.

"Ok, so I was sitting in the train station, when all hell broke loose. Those guys ripped the whole building apart, and then Malcolm showed up and saved me. Uhhm, I kinda shot him three or four times, but he had a vest on, so he's still alive. Then I left and met up with Roy, but then under his bed I found his arrows, I got pissed, wrote him a note to fuck himself for all the lying, and took off with Malcolm."

"After a couple of weeks I've began to calm down, but for some reason Malcolm was trying to keep me angry at Oliver, Mom and Roy... well basically everyone. Then one day he was watching the news about the trade commission and Ollie trying to get the company back, and he said "What is he going to do, put arrows in them?", he thought I wasn't paying attention but in that moment everything became clear, well more or less. I've started digging around and found some shit about Malcolm too, so I thought I come back, ask Ollie, because I still trust him more then I do my biological father, and you obviously can't lie for shit, so I know I've made the right choice by coming home."

Felicity listened with fascination, but looked outside and realized that it was starting to get dark. She had many questions, but knew that Oliver would ask them anyways; why make Thea answer them separately, and she felt too buzzed to think about serious things any longer.

It was the longest conversation the two young women had with each other, but they both knew it was a beginning of sisterhood. They knew different sides of Oliver, and silently agreed to help each other out to help him be the best man he can possibly be.


	5. Chapter 5

"Man, that is huge. Do you know what you are going to do?" asked Diggle when Oliver finished telling him about Connor.

"I guess the first thing is to meet with Connor. He seems like a great kid, I can't wait to get to know him. You know with the whole Arrow-business I never thought that I'd have a kid, and I'm already terrified of something happening to him because of me. Hell, it's been less then two days and we haven't even met, but I think I already love him.

"I don't want him to move to Alabama that is for sure, I've missed seven years of his life and I don't want to miss any more. Besides Felicity would go ballistic if I’d let the Hawkes send him to slave around in shackles at religious cult-farm, so I think I should talk to him about moving in here." Oliver snorted as he thought back to Felicity and her colorful and detailed description of the crazy southern stereotypes.

"A what farm?!"

"Don't even ask! She's been coming up with these crazy scenarios all day; I have a hunch she wants me to move Connor to the mansion. Her hints are pretty obvious though."

"That girl is as subtle as a train crash," chuckled Diggle.

"Yes, but she's still remarkable," added Oliver with a longing smile.

"Look man, I know you don't want to talk about it, so I'll shut up after this, but she's good for you, you love her, she loves you, and you've been living like a married couple already, so why don't you take the poor girl out on a date? Don't answer, just please, think about it,"  with a meaningful look Diggle let Oliver stew in his thoughts as the two men sat in a contemplative silence.

In the next hours they planned out, how could they make their nightly activities safer for their children and loved ones. While their immediate concern was Lyla and baby Dig, Oliver had to weigh the risks Connor and Felicity would face, if they’d become permanent and public figures in his life. Connor wouldn't know nor understand all the possible risks yet; he was too young to protect himself from the media-frenzy or the family's many enemies. Oliver knew he'd have to take measures before he introduced his son to the public.

However Felicity was a different case, she often pointed out to him that it was her choice, and being his EA linked them together a long time ago anyways; but being Oliver Queen's EA was definitely not the same as being the fiancé or wife of a Fortune 500 CEO, or the Arrow's for that matter.

Oliver knew from Felicity’s behavior in the past day that Connor’s appearance in his life did not discourage her. It did just the opposite: the mama bear woke up in her in matter of hours. He chastised himself for even contemplating Felicity as more than just a friend, but couldn't help the warm feeling spreading at the thought of building a family with her. What surprised him even more was the lack of apprehension by the thought of having a wife or kids.

Though they wondered where Felicity disappeared, they were glad she wasn't there while they’d agreed to keep her out of the field as much as possible.

"How long has she been gone? It's too quiet," Oliver was already alert and thinking the worst.

"Maybe three hours. She must have fallen into a sugar coma, wouldn't be the first time," reasoned Diggle, but stood up and started for the door.

She was nowhere in the mansion, but her car was in the usual spot on the driveway. After fifteen minutes of searching Oliver was frantic. There was no sign of forced entry, her favourite ice cream was gone, nothing in the trash, he even tried her phone GPS, but she left it in the library. He was about to check the grounds and call Roy for help, when he found the back door slightly ajar.

He followed the path around the house, nothing at the pool or his father's grave, his last chance was the greenhouse, but since his mother died no one has been in there. As he got close he began to hear faint voices and shrieking laughter. Hearing Felicity's voice instantly calmed him and sent out a text to Diggle to stop his search, and go home to Lyla.

"Oh, my God! Oliver... As Russell Crowe...in a gladiator costume?! ...Seriously??? ....Tell me there are pictures!" squeezed out Felicity between hiccups and choking laughter. Then Oliver heard another voice he'd prayed to hear again in the last three months.

"Of course there are pictures! He was nowhere as buff as he’s now, but he was showing of his ammmazing body, they were posing left and right with Tommy the whole night. Maybe he could dress up as Tarzan this year," giggled Thea.

"Those abs and a loin-cloth, swinging on ropes...yumm!” Thea made some gagging voices, while Felicity sighed dreamingly.

“We did that twice, really platonically though," Oliver was sure those two were plastered. It somehow reminded him of his times with Tommy, only this time, for the first time, he was the one killing the party.

In the last months Oliver realized that he should have been honest with Thea, she truly deserved a brother who was there for her. She'd lost so many people in her life, both he and Roy lied to her for months, she deserved better. Even though Oliver decided to come clean to his sister, he wasn't sure how she would deal with it. No matter what, he had to intervene the girls' party before more skeletons came out of Ollie's pre-island closet.

"Speedy, Felicity! What are you doing here? We've been looking all over for you!" exclaimed Oliver and hugged Thea to himself.

"Hi Ollie! I've missed you too." mumbled Thea into his shoulder, and slumped back to the couch before she lost her balance.

"Ok, girls, why don’t we get you to bed and finish the story time tomorrow?”

"Oh, we're not little girls, Ollie! You can't order us around, we're fine here and we're had enough of your lies and half truths, either you join in or go and put an arrow in someone," told Thea with finality in her voice.

"Felicity?! I thought we've agreed on not telling my secret to everyone..." _No she hadn't done it again! Even I he was planning on telling Thea, it was still his secret to tell._ He already thought it was a Barry Allen-case all over.

"Oliver! Before you go into your brooding growling grrrr overthinky-ness, I haven't told her your secret, she already knew, I just filled in the blanks before you lied to her again. Remember how awesome that worked out the last time?! You can thank me later!" Felicity managed to put him in his place with minimal slurring and surprising clarity considering the empty bottle on the table. With a huff Felicity crossed her arms in front of her body and shot Oliver her drunk stink eye.

He shook his head guiltily but mostly amused, even drunk Felicity was his voice of reason. Oliver'd been afraid to tell his sister the truth, but Felicity did it for him. Somehow she managed to explain things to Thea that made his sister understand and except his crusade, and not fuel her resentment towards him.

"Come on, let's get you two to bed." Oliver reached out his hands toward the two girls, and pulled them each into one of his sides helping them along. As they stumbled back to the mansion, the girls were giggling all they way about an unfortunate encounter Tommy and Oliver had with old Mrs Fitzpatrick on the 2005 Memorial Day weekend.

First, he put Thea into her old bed remembering how tiny she looked in her huge bed the first time he'd done this. True, that'd been almost ten years before, when the nine year old Thea Queen with pigtails wearing reindeer pajamas had promised to wait for their parents to arrive from the company Christmas party, only to fall asleep fifteen minutes into Home Alone.

After tucking Thea in, he walked Felicity into his room, just to be able to keep an eye on her. It wasn't because he needed to feel her next to him; he just wanted to make sure she would not get sick from all the alcohol she'd consumed.

"Stay, please," mumbled Felicity mostly asleep clutching his hand into her smaller one.

"I'm not going anywhere," answered Oliver with deep conviction.

He lay next to her and put his arms around her. Felicity snuggled into the crook of his neck, and murmured something incredibly like 'I love you' but he couldn't be sure. After his initial shock he checked her, but she was already asleep.

In the darkness of his room he said the words, which frightened him and at the same time brought him a sense of calm he hadn't experienced before.

"I love you, too. I promise, I'll stop pushing you away. Soon I'm going to ask you out on a date, I'll even buy you flowers. That’ll be a first, you know? I'll do anything to be worthy of you. I want to be a good dad to Connor but I don't know how. I need you. You are my conscience, my safe place.” He caressed her face and twirled a strand of her hair around his fingers as he spoke his whispered declarations.

“Love, I can't do this without you by my side and I don't want to." With a kiss to the top of her head he closed his eyes, thinking about his new resolutions as he fell into the most peaceful slumber he had in years.


	6. Chapter 6

Felicity tried to move but she was held tight by what she assumed as the sheets. During the night she must have knotted herself thoroughly into the comforter, nothing new there. She buried her face back into her pillow, which was surprisingly hard and smelled a lot like Oliver, that was a bit unusual, but she’d dreamt about Oliver before.

She opened her eyes and looked around. The room was bigger than her whole apartment, her left hand lay on a hard chest grasped by a much larger one. An arm circled her body holding her tight in place, now _that_ was uncommon. Her sleep-clouded brain wrote it off as her recurring dream of sleeping and waking up next to Oliver, the 2.0 upgraded version. Although in her previous dreams he'd always been shirtless...

"Would you stop wiggling?" rumbled a sleepy voice, her pillow vibrated and the grip on her waist tightened. This perfectly new occurrence started to wake her up.

"Huh? Dream Oliver usually doesn't speak. This is a really good update," mumbled back Felicity and snuggled up to his side. A deep chuckle shook her out of her dreamy state.

"Oliver? This is not a dream, is it? Where are we? What are you doing here... with me... in a huge bed? And why does my head hurt? ... Right... Thea came back and we had ice cream." She sat up, facing Oliver, while the man just smiled at her with adoration.

"I didn't know that's what they call tequila these days," snickered Oliver. "You two drank a _lot_ , and I wanted to make sure you were all right, I put you in my bed and I was gonna sleep on the couch," and he looked at the leather sofa in question. "But then you clamped my hand and I couldn't move, so I had to sleep next to you," explained Oliver.

Felicity saw his eyes twinkle as he told his oh, so not convincing tale. They had dozens of guest rooms, why put her in his own? If he'd wanted to move his hand, he could have, he was the strongest man she knew (after John Diggle probably), and then why exactly were his arms holding her tight and not the other way around...?

But instead of asking these she tilted her head and smiled up at him, silently showing that she saw through his fib. She wasn't going to challenge him, this time. She thanked him for taking care of her, and slid back to the headboard next to him.

"So... What did you two talk about?" Oliver continued casually reveling in their newfound closeness.

"You know, this and that. Girl stuff."

"Oh, why don't I believe that," a small knowing smile graced Oliver's features.

"Okay, but you have to promise me not to get mad. Thea came, well more like snuck into the house. But I guess it’s her house too and you can’t really sneak into your own house, right?! Anyway... She scared the crap out of me and told me she knew you're the Arrow. She asked me to tell her everything, and since I knew you don't like to talk about it, and would probably keep stuff to protect her, I told her what she wanted to know.” Oliver whipped his head to look at the blonde but she just continued.

“Did you know, she has a try-lying-to-me-and-I'll-never-ever-forgive-you face? It was _really_ scary, almost Arrow scary. She hasn't totally forgiven you, but she understands mostly why you did what you did. Though I think I've already told you some of this... Anyway, you still have to talk to her, but she's back and willing to listen, so do no blow it. You hear me?!" Felicity accentuated her last words by poking his arm with her finger repeatedly.

"Okay, tiger, I'll talk to her." He put his hands up in surrender. "And did she say where was she all this time?"

"I was getting there, so don't interrupt!" huffed Felicity. "She was with Malcolm, who tried to evilly brainwash her, but she's a smart cookie. She'll tell you about it but she has gathered some intel I can run through the systems, and send the results over to Lance or the Arrow can look into them." To accentuate the end of her story her stomach grumbled.

"Sure,” Oliver snickered, “but let's get you some breakfast first." he stood up and pulled Felicity with him.

They walked out of his room through the maze of corridors towards the kitchen. It didn't escape Felicity's attention that Oliver hasn't let go of her hand after he pulled her up and even laced their fingers together. He only broke the silence when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I've called Jane and asked her to cancel all our meetings for today."

"I've already cleared the whole week." Felicity looked up at him.

"I know, she told me as much. I've also called the Hawkes yesterday, and they said I could go over this afternoon and meet Connor. I don't want to waste another day without meeting him."

Oliver stopped suddenly, their enlaced hands made Felicity spin back and she collided with his body. Oliver’s free hand cupped her face. He looked deeply in her eyes for a moment before he took a deep breath, sighed, then continued. "Felicity, would you, please, come with me today?"

He looked at her with soft eyes and Felicity could see the vulnerability in them. There was no way she could, or even wanted to say no to him. She raised her left hand to take hold on his arm but never broke eye-contact as she conveyed her answer.

"Of course.”

“Thank you,” the relief clearly visible as the golden specks twinkled in the blue of his eyes with his smile. His gaze was slowly making her squirm. Felicity cleared her throat to break the spell.

“Let’s go, I’m starving!” She let go of his arm, but kept their hands laced together and started to pull him along the hallway.

The kitchen was empty when they arrived. Oliver went straight to the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. Meanwhile Felicity pushed herself on the counter.

“I hope coffee and cereal’s okay... We don’t really have anything else yet.”

“Yep, I’m surprised, you even have this much with your shopping skills,” snickered Felicity, remembering how lost Oliver was when they needed grocery shopping while he was living with her.

He pulled a box of Froot Loops, two bowls and spoons out of the cupboards and put them next to her.

“Froot Loops?!” asked Felicity surprised knowing that Oliver was very particular about his food and she would’ve guessed that the colorful sugary rings weren’t so healthy.

“They’re Thea’s favorite. It made me miss her a bit less.”

“Now you don’t have to miss her anymore, but don’t you dare send her away again!”

“I’ll try my best,” answered Oliver while pouring the milk in their bowls.

Swinging her legs Felicity contemplated her next words, before saying them out loud. She swallowed a mouthful of food and she began.

“So... After breakfast I’ll go home to change and pick up a gift for Connor. You should talk to Thea while I’m gone, then we can leave, okay?” She looked up at him for confirmation. “I promise, I’ll be right by your side as long as you need me, as always. Even though I have no doubt that you can handle it, I am here for you.”

Oliver moved from his perch on the kitchen island, stood between her thighs and hugged her fiercely. She circled her arms around him as his head landed on her shoulder, and his breath tickled her neck when he whispered a ‘Thank you’.

Even though there was nothing sexual about their hug, just providing each other comfort, their position could have been easily misunderstood. When Roy walked in the kitchen through the back door he picked up an apple from the counter he froze for a second before he moved on, but the couple noticed none of it. They only heard the oh-so-subtle “Get a room!” the boy yelled as he left them alone. Oliver and Felicity broke their hug blushing furiously and continued their breakfasts in awkward silence.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kind comments and the kudos! I hope you are not bored of the story yet ;)  
> And sorry for the delay....

Felicity stopped the Mini on the driveway of a modest suburban house later the afternoon. Both of them remained seated in the car. She played with the bow on the newly purchased science kit while she waited for Oliver to collect himself.

“Well, this is it. Ready to go in?” asked Felicity minutes later.

Oliver squared his jaw and with resolution nodded at her.

“Let’s go,” with that he climbed out of the car. Felicity followed him on the porch, touched his arm to get his attention.

“Hey, don’t give him the mask. He needs you, his dad, not some cold businessman or a pretend persona. Maybe you won’t be the perfect parent, but he’ll see that you love him and you’re trying.”

Just as she finished her encouragement the door opened and Mrs. Hawke greeted them. Felicity could see now, how tired but relieved the woman looked seeing them there. If the vice grip on her right hand weren’t enough, she could feel the tension roll off of Oliver in waves.

“You’re here! Come in, Connor just went upstairs, but he’ll be down in a minute.”

“Mrs. Hawke, thank you for having us. I’m Felicity,” she introduced herself, then pulled the frozen Oliver into the house.

The older woman led them in the family room, where they sat on the couches. As Felicity looked around the room, she noticed how different it was compared to her apartment or the Queen mansion. This room belonged to a family, it was homey even if a bit out of style: the mantel was covered by photographs, on the bookshelf children books were mixed with biographies and classics, a cute stuffed teddy bear sitting next to her. She could see Connor’s touch everywhere in the room.

“He’s Huggy,” said Mrs. Hawke as she noticed Felictiy checking out the bear. “Sandra bought it just after Connor was born. He still sleeps with him every night. It’s a miracle he’s in such a good shape,” smiled a woman with fondness remembering her daughter.

“I’ll go see what’s taking him so long,” she walked out and left Oliver and Felicity alone in the room.

“Lis, what if he hates me?” Oliver never called by her nickname before, she didn’t mind it but was surprised nonetheless, though it wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

“I’d guess it won’t be a smooth sailing, but I’m sure he’s smart –look those are pretty advanced books for his age-“ she pointed at the Tolkien and Rowling books stacked next to the beanbag. “He’ll understand eventually.”

“Eventually?! Felicity!”

“You can’t expect that he’ll run into your arms jelling ‘Daddy’ from the first moment he sees you. I know it wasn’t your choice, but the only thing that matters to him is that you haven’t been here before. He has to realize that you not being there wasn’t because of him and you’re not gonna leave him. You just have to be patient with him.”

Oliver grumbled in displeasure, but he didn’t say anything further on the matter. Silence settled on them, as they waited for his son to come.

“Oliver, I’m sorry, I tried to talk to him, but he says he’s not feeling well. He’s been quite nervous about today,” said the older woman as she walked back.

“How about, you two talk about the plan and I’ll go see how he’s doing?” asked Felicity from Oliver.

“Shouldn’t I go?” replied Oliver.

“Stay, discuss boring grown up stuff, while Connor and I are having a debate on Rawenclaw vs Gryffindor.” She squeezed his hand as she stood and went upstairs.

She stopped at the door with Connor’s name on it and knocked.

“Hey, may I come in?”

“Leave me alone,” came the muffled answer.

But Felicity ignored his request, opened the door and went in. The room was the typical boy’s room with its light green walls; the superman sheets on the bed covered a boy shaped bundle. She slowly approached the bed and sat down on the edge.

“So what was it? Puking Pastilles or Fever Fudge? Coz you don’t really sound sick, if you’d ask me...”

Connor snorted under the covers, but made no moves to come out from hiding.

“You‘ve read Harry Potter? I thought old people don’t read children books.”

“Hey! First of all, of course I’ve read it, that book is the ultimate ‘good defeats evil’ book. Second I’m not old, okay? But it is hard to judge hiding under the covers, so I forgive you this time. You wanna come out?”

Connor slowly pulled back his invisibility cloak and revealed himself. Felicity had seen photos, but the similarities between father and son astounded her again.

“I’m Felicity, by the way.” Connor looked at her outstretched hand suspiciously but slowly put his hand in hers and shook it.

“I’m Connor Hawke,” the child introduced himself.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Connor. I’m Felicity Smoak, but I guess you can call me Lis, your dad..., Oliver and his sister call me like that sometimes.”

“So, you’re his girlfriend?”

“Nope, I’m just his friend and I work with him, that’s it.”

“You’re not gonna make me meet him, are you? I’m fine living with Grandma, I promise I won’t cause any trouble, but I don’t wanna move in with him. I don’t know him. If he loved me, he’d been here to be my dad.” The boy ranted of quickly, and Felicity could hear the hurt and apprehension in his voice.

“Your Grandma and Oliver are discussing it downstairs. He’s really excited to meet you, and scared as hell, that you won’t like him. Trust me, he didn’t know about you before this week. So just don’t blame him too much about not being here before.”

“What do you mean?” asked Connor with interest shining in his blue eyes.

“Well,” sighed Felicity, “your mom and Oliver’s mom agreed it would be the best not to tell Oliver about you.”

“Why? Does he not like kids or what?”

“He loves you, don’t ever question that. But I don’t know why they hid it from him, kid. I guess grownups make stupid decisions sometimes,” shrugged Felicity.

She let Connor chew the information for a while, as his eyes returned on her she smiled at him hopefully. Maybe things were not so bad as they’d originally thought.

“Look, I know you don’t know him, but he’s a great guy, so just give him –well, all of us– a chance, huh?”

“Grandma also said he didn’t know about me, so I can’t really blame him, right? I get why he’s here, but what are you doing here?” questioned her Connor raising his eyebrow in a perfectly Oliver-way.

“I was hoping you might be good at Candy Crush, I’ve been looking for a good opponent, because those boring old people at the office suck at it.”

Connor started to fidget excitedly and rubbed his hands together, his eyes glinted as the plans run through his mind. Felicity pulled out her tablet and loaded the game in. “Highest score wins?” taunted the blonde.

“I’ll crush you,” threatened Connor with an evil smile.

They immersed themselves in the game, switching after each level, while they talked about anything and everything. Felicity found out that he was more developed than the average seven year old ( _Hey, I’m seven and a half!_ ); they had a lot of things common besides their love of books and computer games. She could see them building science projects together, since she knew Oliver was not the person to make functioning baking soda volcanoes.

“So, Connor do you have a favorite superhero?” asked Felicity nonchalantly, secretly hoping he’d say his father’s alter ego.

“Of course, silly, the Arrow. He’s the coolest guy _ever_. I wanted to learn to shoot the bow, but Grandma said I’m too young. Do you think Oliver would be okay with it?”

Felicity shook her head in amusement as she answered. And realized, the boy suggested the perfect way for Oliver and him to bond over.

“I’d say he’d be okay with it. You should ask him.” She looked up as Connor froze next to her. Her eyes followed his gaze and landed on Oliver leaning to the doorframe.

Oliver looked at their stunned faces and cleared his throat then began.

“Hi, Connor! I’m Oliver, or Dad, I guess. But you can call me whichever you’d prefer. I don’t want to pressure you into anything, except maybe moving in with me. I’d really like that. We could get to know each other, I know we can’t get back the time we’ve lost, but would it be so bad to spend some time with me? I know I’m not the what you’ve imagined for a dad, and I have a lot to learn, but I’ll try my best to be a good parent, okay? Would you, please, give me a chance?” he finished his monologue in seemingly one breath with a hopeful expression sitting on his face, while fidgeting with his hands constantly. Felicity was seeing a side of Oliver, she hadn’t seen in the two years they’d known each other, and she kind of liked this new, honest and vulnerable side of him.

“Is he always like this?” Connor turned to Felicity ignoring Oliver’s questions.

“No, he’s usually the silent type. My rambling must be catchy.”

She looked into Oliver’s eyes and showed him, that things were much better than they initially thought.

“I’m gonna go check out your Grandma’s chocolate cake, okay, kiddo?”

“Yup, but don’t eat all of it!”

“Wasn’t gonna, but now...” she skipped the room laughing all the way to the kitchen leaving father and son together for the first time ever.

In the kitchen Felicity took a silly selfie with a slice of cake, and sent it to John to show things were all right. They texted back and forth, before Mrs. Hawke joined her again. The women talked about Connor, their lives and anything that came to their minds. Felicity almost slipped a few times regarding their nightly activities, but otherwise she instantly connected with the older woman. She could see her carrying nature, she never got to experience with her own mother.

They prepared dinner for all off them, before calling the boys. Those two tumbled down the stairs boisterously. They stopped in the hallway next to each other like two eggs, with two-foot height difference. Felicity knew the innocent smiles on their faces too well.

“What were you doing?”

“Nothing,” their answer was way to simultaneous to make her believe them, but she left it alone, seeing the forming bond between the two. She just tilted her head and smiled at them her I’m-sooo-not-buying-it-but-I’m-better-off-not-knowing face.

Dinner went down with Connor pestering Oliver about the island. The man answered his son’s questions with an uncharacteristic calm, Felicity also noticed, that he always told the truth, even if the much toned-down version of it.

They left well in the evening with the promise of being back the next morning to take Connor to the mansion to pick out his room, meet the rest of the family. By the time they left, Oliver was calm, the shaking hands and the guarded face long gone, replaced by twinkling eyes and a hopeful smile.

“It went well, right?” asked Felicity when they left the driveway.

“Yeah, it did,” with that he moved his hand from the steering wheel, took hers and gave a small peck on her knuckles before resting their hands on the armrest.


	8. Chapter 8

“So, this is it,” said Oliver as they passed the gates of the property.

Earlier that morning Oliver picked up Connor for a busy day. After a short awkward silence the boy launched into a soliloquy about nothing and everything. During the hour in the car Oliver learned a lot about his son. He was a funny and smart kid, a bit on the rambunctious side. Oliver just hoped Thea would not give him any tips from their childhood. He chuckled, as Connor could _definitely_ give Felicity a run for her money in babbling, but he realized that just like the woman, the boy could talk as much as he wanted, Oliver would still happily pay attention to every word.

Oliver had also learned the day before that the boy could get into trouble in matter of seconds, but who was he to stop the creative mind from expressing itself?! And it _was_ kind of fun to use a slingshot... He guessed Mrs. Hawke had not been happy, when she found the Black-eyed Susans covered with dozens of pieces of stationary in the backyard.

“Wow, this is where you live?” asked Connor with huge surprised eyes as they were nearing the house.

“Yes, and maybe you could too?” questioned Oliver tentatively.

“Sure, whatever,” Connor tried to say in nonchalantly, but the awe on his face sold him out. Spending time with Thea and Roy taught Oliver this answer was a yes in cool-kids lingo.

They just started towards the house when Thea ran out of the building and scooped Connor up in a huge bear hug. Roy followed her in a more casual pace looking tired from the lack of sleep caused by long night of patrol. At least Oliver really hoped Roy’s tiredness was due to the work at the club and crime fighting, and not other activities involving his sister; using Roy as a punching bag seemed as a nice possibility for him at the moment, or at any moment, honestly.

“You’re here! They’ve told me so much about you! I can’t believe you’re really here!” shrieked the girl as she held the boy away from her body to take a good look at him. Once satisfied, she just pulled him back and continued to squeeze the astonished boy. “Finally, what took you guys so long?! I swear you drive like a grandma,” Thea glanced up to Oliver accusingly.

“Thea! You’re killing him," but she did not notice his brother calling out or just flat out ignored him. "Roy, little help here?” asked Oliver for help, as he tried to gently pry his sister away.

It took both Oliver and Roy to stop Thea from suffocating the boy.

“Uhm, hi?” said Connor as he caught his breath.

“Sorry,” in her defense Thea looked a bit contrite for almost finishing off the youngest Queen with her eagerness before he even wore the family name.

“It’s okay, I guess,” though his eyes still contained some fear for Thea’s state of mind.

“See, babe, I’ve told you your love can be suffocating,” snickered Roy behind her.

“Really, Harper, are you sure you wanna go there?” retorted Thea and shot a murderous glance at Roy, who swallowed hard, probably berating himself for digging his proverbial hole just a tad deeper.

“Connor, this is my sister Thea, watch out, she’s a hugger, and that’s Roy, her apparently suicidal boyfriend,” introduced them Oliver by pointing at the bickering couple.

As Oliver’s patience with them was running short he wanted to finish the introductions quickly and just get on with their plans.

“Come on, let’s take a look at your room,” addressed his son and led him towards the house by leading with a hand on the boy's shoulder.

They walked into the building and the kid’s jaw dropped epically. Oliver enjoyed the awe on his son’s face and tried to remember to a time when he got mesmerized by the size of the mansion, but quickly realized that from an early age on he just took it for granted. Everyone he’d known as a child was modern day royalty, living in mansions, being driven by drivers to have play dates with other rich kids with nannies and to galas their parents made them attend.

In the five years on-and-off the island money had little meaning; survival was his goal. The first time he really had to pay attention to his spending was when Isabel took everything. He lived with Felicity from her savings while they worked on getting back his wealth. It was only three months, but he learned that bills had to be paid and the toilet paper did not just magically appear –he'd learned that one the hard way. It was never really tight, though as they didn’t know how long it would take, they had to cut cost wherever they could. That reminded him to pay her back whatever they spent during those months and some more for taking up with his sorry ass for so long.

“Holy shit, this is huge!” Connor’s exclamation brought him back from his thoughts.

“Language!” as it were a long developed reflex, Oliver reprimanded in such a parental voice that even he got surprised.

“Sorry,” came the absentminded answer, but Connor was already looking around the room taking in every detail of the house.

They started up the main staircase toward the bedrooms, took a left at the top of the stairs by the Ming vase, passed the medieval armor ( _“This is sooo cool! Can I touch it?”_ ), Oliver knew the art littered around the mansion represented incredible monetary and possibly priceless artistic value, after all he'd seen the documentation and sat through a fair number of auctions. He appreciated art, just like th next guy, but he had no emotional ties to most of them; if touching them made his son happy, who was he to ruin the fun.

“Yes, just try not to hurt yourself or break too much,” said as he stopped in the middle of a hallway.

“Did you break anything when you were little?” turned the boy back inquisitively, his hand frozen in the air reaching toward the armor.

“Yeah, but my mom thought the house was for making good impressions not for having fun, so she banned us from playing inside after the first statue. That didn’t really stop us though,” smiled Oliver remembering all the yelling and useless speeches they received with Tommy after the incidents.

“So, that’s my room,” pointing at the door on the right. “Thea and Roy are just down the hall,“ he grumbled the boyfriend’s name. Thea was still his little sister, and no big brother liked to think about his baby sister sharing a room with a delinquent, or come to think of it, with anyone.

“I was thinking you could stay here,” said Oliver pointing at the door opposite his. Though he phrased it as a sentence, the intonation was more of a question's.

“You don’t have to, I mean there are a lot of rooms, you can pick any of them, but this one has the best view of the grounds.”

Oliver opened the door and led them in. It was the room the Queen’s used to call as the east sitting room on the second floor. One can never have enough sitting rooms, thought Oliver sardonically.

It’d been Moira’s favorite nook to read when Oliver was little, now it just reminded him of old and sour memories. He wanted to turn the room and the whole mansion into a happy place again.

"I guess it's all right, but it smells funny," remarked the boy, and Oliver couldn't help but agree with him. Connor took in the room walking past him, looking at the various art and bookshelves still present in there.

“We’ll move the furniture and you can pick out anything you’d like. The paint will remove the smell, don't worry about that.  I was thinking, we could look online for ideas or do you already know what you want?” inquired Oliver.

“I do and Felicity promised she’d help me order all the stuff later," answered Connor without skipping a beat.

Oliver felt sufficiently brushed off, but what he did not know was that the woman explained the day before that most likely Connor would have to move in the mansion, so they started to throw ideas around, some achievable, some not so much. Finally they came up with the plans of an Arrow-themed room for Connor, and Felicity asked the boy to keep quiet about it to surprise his father.

Without noticing Oliver’s sudden gloomy mood the boy ran up to the windows and gasped seeing the pool and the back area.

“Is this all yours? This is _aaaaawesome_! Can we go down there, please, please?” Connor was vibrating with excitement.

“Sure, buddy, let’s go! I know Thea bought you some clothes yesterday, maybe she’s got swim trucks too.”

 

Once Connor changed into one of the dozen shorts Thea got him, and Oliver made sure he wouldn’t drown the boy jumped into the water and splashed around with Roy keeping him company. Oliver felt self-conscious about showing his scars so early or at all to his son, thus opted out from swimming and just observed the two boys in the pool from the lounge chairs. He couldn’t really decide which one was the bigger kid, but neither acted more than five.

He was so immersed in watching them, he barely noticed Thea sitting down next to him.

“Hey Ollie, can I ask you something?” her voice was uncharacteristically timid.

“Sure Speedy," he turned toward Thea to give her all his attention, he knew that not many things made the fearless Thea Queen feel hesitant.

“Are you sure you want to keep the mansion and not move somewhere else? I mean there are just so many secrets and bad memories here.”

“Yes, I'm sure. I know they did awful things, but we have a chance to start fresh, and right their wrongs. Chose to remember the good things," he paused. "We have good memories too, you know? Remember the time you tried to bake cookies without Raisa?"

"Please, don't remind me!" She buried her face in her palms in embarrassment, but Oliver ignored her request.

"The kitchen was a mess, and smoke came out of the oven. She pulled out the pan but the cookies were on fire, so she dropped the whole thing. It made a dent on the tile, now every time I look at that spot I remember you in pigtails running after Tommy and me all day, claiming you had nothing to do with it," he laughed out and this time Thea joined him, though much less enthusiastically.  "See, that's a good memory. We just have to make it our home and not try to make it into something mom and dad would approve of.”

"I guess we could try, but let's start by getting a table where we can actually pass the salt, or buy a beanbag or something."

"You can buy whatever you'd like, paint the house pink for all I care, I just want you and Connor to feel at home here," Oliver showed a small, but sincere smile at Thea and turned back to the boys to see them having a deathly battle with inflatable dinosaurs.

Oliver still hadn’t told Thea everything about his five years away, but they came to an understanding that he’d tell everything concerning her or their current cases. That was the most he could offer and she was willing to take the deal. Even though Oliver was not forthcoming with answers, they both knew he valued any resemblance of a home after all the things he went thorough. And considering their parents, the little patchwork group was all the family they had, quite frankly, all they wanted to have.

“Besides Felicity already ordered the equipment for a secondary base behind the wine cellar,” added Oliver as an afterthought, a special smile designated only to the blonde woman spread on his face, but his gaze remained on the boys.

“Oooohh... Speaking of Felicity, should we move out now, or we still have a couple months for apartment hunting?” piped up Thea with a cheeky grin.

“Why would you have to move out? With Connor moving in I think he’d like the company, this house can get pretty empty, trust me, I’ve tried,” he tried to ignore her hint, though he’d have loved, if his relationship with Felicity had been at the moving together part.

“You can avoid talking about it big brother, but you can't run away... You know, you really should do something. Soon. She’s good for you, maybe even too good, so just put a ring on it before someone else swoops in or she figures you out."

"I'm pretty sure she already figured me out, Speedy," smirked Oliver, after all Felicity was the only person who saw through all his bullshit from day one, though admittedly his coffee shop story had been an awfully weak one.

"Well, she's still here, but don't take that for granted!" Oliver just grunted in agreement.

They lapsed into silence just looking at the boys playing in the pool; the sun shone high up on the sky, the birds chirped on the trees. It seemed like a perfect day.

Oliver thought about how his life changed in the last months, especially in the last few days. No friend-turned-archenemy or psycho-bitch-ex was out to kill him; QC belonged to the family again. Thea tanning next to him like she’d never left, the son he hadn’t known about was playing in the pool with his vigilante protégé.

“Delivery!”

He whipped his head toward the voice. He saw Felicity skipping down the stairs from the house carrying pizza boxes wearing a white sundress, a huge pink floppy hat and sunglasses, which covered most of her face. 

“Pizza!” yelled Connor from he pool, giving the opening for Roy to splash him.

“Hey, play nice!" addressed Felicity the two boys as she continued toward the lounge chairs where Thea and Oliver were sitting.

“Hi, Lis!” Thea jumped up from her chair and hugged Felicity quickly, “I’ll get some plates for the pizza, and let you guys talk,” she then went to the pool and ordered Roy and Connor out to help her.

Felicity reached Oliver’s side cheerfully as she came up to him, casting shadow on his face. He looked up at her and saw her nails under the boxes were bright pink except one, which was dark green, again; he noticed lately at least one of her fingers had been painted some shade of green. Truth to be told he enjoyed seeing his color on her as a small, but constant reminder, that she shared his crusade with him.

While Oliver gazed at her with faraway expression, she looked down with concern.

“What are we supposed to talk about? Is there something wrong?” asked Felicity concern lacing her voice.

“No, everything is absolutely perfect,” and at the moment everything was truly prefect.


	9. Chapter 9

Oliver walked into Connor’s room one morning early fall already wearing his navy suit. He looked around still not quite believing the miracle that happened to the stuffy sitting-room-on-the-second-floor. The first time he had walked into the freshly redecorated room he couldn't believe his eyes, only the view from the windows made him sure that he wasn't in Arrow heaven or something similar.

Felicity had made Connor an Arrow dream-room. It was pretty much a comfortable version of one of their bases. Green and taupe colored walls, a display with rows of arrows set in holders and a child sized custom compound bow -almost like his, without the matching deathly arrows– in another case. A desk with a computer –like hers– and hundreds of crayons, pens, and whatnot to encourage his creative aspirations (her words, not his), and of course the industrial lightning to finish the lair-like effect. While in the real bases the sleep and relax-function took a backseat (she did order some new couches though), in Connor's room the gigantic bed, that made the boy look tiny in it, and the window nook with the beanbags looked really comfortable. Oliver was just grateful she did not put in a salmon ladder; he knew how much Felicity loved having _that_ particular item in their bases...

Oliver realized she could make it big in interior design, if she’d ever get bored of the whole IT genius/QC top-management/secret-vigilante thing.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Connor’s hair.

"Good morning, it's time for school," called out Oliver softly. There was no movement, but from the change of Connor's breathing and the fluttering of eyelids Oliver knew the boy was waking up. He continued to smooth the strands out of Connor's face for some time. Even though he intended to wake up and get his son moving early in order to be on time, he enjoyed this quiet moment and tried not to dwell on the fact that he could have had these moments for years.

“Come on, buddy, wake up!” said Oliver more strongly but the boy just pulled the comforter higher and groaned.

“Ok, I give you five more minutes, but then I’ll send Thea in to wake you up!”

A grumbled ‘I’m up, just don’t send her' came from the boy, and the mass under the covers started to roll toward the edge of the bed.

“Go get ready, and don’t forget to wash your teeth! The uniform is in the closet; your bag is at your desk. Just please, hurry up okay?” Oliver felt more nervous than he did before his Arrow missions; after all it was the first day he took his son to school.

“I’m going downstairs to make you some breakfast. What would you like?”

“Can I have pancakes?” looked back Connor from the bathroom door.

“Sure, yell if you need anything.”

Oliver left for the kitchen to get a start on Connor’s breakfast, but by the time he reached the kitchen Raisa had the whole spread set for her boys.

“Mr Oliver, доброе утро!” greeted the woman.

“Доброе утро, Raisa. Что ты готовишь?” asked Oliver what she was cooking.

Oliver and Raisa took on speaking Russian with each other when no one else was around; it just became their thing. She knew better not to ask how he learned the language, but his accent could still use some improvement.

By the time Connor came in the kitchen with his tie hanging loose around his neck Diggle nursed a cup of coffee while he and Oliver hunched over some papers which they covered hastily as they heard the boy stomping in. But Connor noticed none of it, he plopped down on a stool next to his father, mumbling a greeting toward Raisa and Diggle.

“Morning, Connor!” answered the woman cheerfully and she put a stack of pancakes in front of the boy. He became alert in a second; his eyes lit up as he poured blueberries and chocolate syrup all over the plate and started to devour the breakfast.

He munched away happily when Diggle spoke up. 

“Ready for school, bud?”

“Yeah, Uncle Dig,” responded Connor, pieces of food falling back on the plate from his mouth.

“Please, don’t talk with your mouth full,” chastised Oliver.

“Man, you are really getting better at this parenting thing,” snickered the older man. For the comment he earned a well-aimed grape at his chest, making Connor laugh out loud.

“Don’t you have something better to do?” shot Oliver a glare at John.

“Nope,” grinned Diggle at Oliver’s obvious discomfort, “I'm just hanging around and waiting for you people to finish breakfast," Oliver huffed at started to gather his papers.

"Connor, you done?" questioned Oliver standing up from the table.

“Yeah. Let’s go!” with that Connor jumped up and started for the door. He turned, yelled a "Thanks for breakfast, Raisa," and with that he was gone.

“Hey, let me fix your tie,” called Oliver after him, “and I’m sure Thea wants to take pictures.”

Since the first day Thea had met Connor she started to take photos of anything and everything they did, claiming that next to the stuck-up old-people art they needed family photos on the walls.

Oliver was kneeling in front of Connor when Thea came down in her pajamas.

“Stand in front of the stairs, both of you!” barked out the girl and fiddled around with her camera.

“Hello to you too, Speedy,” shot a glare up Oliver at his sister while righting Connor’s shirt and tie.

“Why is she always this bossy?” grumbled the boy.

“I have no idea, son, but she’s been always like this. It’s easier to just do what she wants.”

They posed for a gazillion of pictures until Thea was satisfied and ushered them out the door, while scolding them for being late.

 

 

In the car Connor fidgeted the whole time and chatted excitedly with Diggle, Oliver just sat in silence looking out of the window trying to think about anything besides the fact that he had to leave his son with total strangers. He’d gone to that school and every one-percenter’s or diplomat’s kid went to that school, the security was airtight, still he wasn’t comfortable leaving Connor there for the whole day.

“I’ll be fine. It’s just school, it’s fun.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one telling you this?” questioned Oliver standing in front of the school.

“Lis said you’ll be nervous,” smirked Connor.

“Of course she did,” copied Oliver the Queen-smirk to the dot, “you know where the home room is right? And you’ve got your cellphone?”

“Yes, dad, relax. I’ll be fine,” said the boy with an exasperated voice not realizing the weight of the moment.

Felicity had warned Oliver not to make a big deal, if Connor called him dad, not to scare the boy with his reaction, just let him get comfortable with the title in his own pace. Though Oliver did not react, due to lots of years of training, it surprised him that just after a couple of weeks Connor called him dad. He was damn glad his son felt safe and sure enough in their relationship to address him as such.

“Okay then. Have fun, we’ll pick you up in the afternoon."

Oliver stood still as he watched his son run into the building to take his first day in the new environment without any fear or second thoughts. If he had been able to think past the whole ‘dad’ thing he would have wished to have his son’s courage when facing the unknown.

From the school to the office Oliver went through the motions; Diggle drove him to the building, he stepped out of the car, went to the coffee shop on the corner, picked up the coffees and made small talk with the usual barista. He replied with a ‘morning’ to everyone who greeted him in the QC lobby, asked Max, the security guy about his day, and then took the elevator up to his floor. He gave Jane her coffee, also left Diggle's on her desk for him to pick up later and continued his usual path to deliver Felicity's go her office.

Jane looked amused at his retreating back, thinking that even though she had no problems with fetching coffee for her boss, he was the one bringing the drinks every morning. She had no doubts that Felicity had something to do with it. God, that boy was whipped, chuckled the older woman.

Felicity didn’t even look up from her furious typing when he entered her office. He plopped down in a chair and stared in front of him.

“He called me dad today,” mumbled Oliver.

“ _Geez_ , Oliver, stop ninja-ing into my office,” shrieked Felicity, as she heard his voice.

“You should pay more attention to your surroundings," came his often-used comment automatically.

“Ooookay... Wait, what did you say?” she wiggled her fingers for her coffee cup and Oliver offered it to her.

“He called me dad today,” to prevent her endless questioning he continued with the details, “at the school I was making sure he was okay, he just rolled his eyes and told me ‘dad, relax’, then ran inside.”

“Oliver, that’s great,” smiled widely Felicity with shining eyes.

“I know, but it just makes it feel real, you know. What if something happens to him?”

Oliver’s eyes contained so much concern for his son, but as he looked up at the blonde, her blue eyes and open face made him believe whatever she was about to tell him.

“ _Nothing_ will happen to him,” stated firmly the woman.

“How can you be so sure?” asked Oliver.

“We can protect him. He has the GPS tracker in his watch and bag, he knows not to go away with strangers, and that school is like a fortress. He’s going to be fine,” reassured Felicity.

“What happens outside of school, the media? What if other kids pick on him? Blaming him for our family’s mistakes?” Oliver started pacing the room, going into his usual everything-is-my-fault self-loathing spiral.

“The media doesn’t know about him yet, and PR is making a plan to introduce him to the public. And nothing’s going to happen to him at the school,” said Felicity overly calm.

“How do you know?” Oliver looked suspiciously at her.

“I might have... _totally accidently._.. been granted to access the school’s CCTV.”

“You’ve hacked the school’s system?” he asked in awe.

“Ok, yeah, I’ve totally hacked their system!You have a problem with that?” she looked at him over her glasses with raised eyebrows.

Oliver just smiled at her fondly and went to stand behind her chair. He put one of his hands on the back of her chair, the other on the desk, bracketing her putting his face right next to her ear. He got lost in the smell of her flowery scent for a moment before he answered.

“You, Felicity, are truly remarkable,” whispered Oliver and briefly kissed her temple.

He could feel her breath hitch and her face heat up while she pulled up the video feed. They stared at the monitor showing Connor's math class until Jane came in to get Oliver for his first meeting of the day.


	10. Chapter 10

In the afternoon Oliver and Diggle were at the school well before the final bell rang. They watched as dozens of kids run out to the yard where a few of moms and a lot of nannies and bodyguards were waiting for them. As far as Oliver could tell he was the only dad there. Connor came out with the last wave talking animatedly with a dark haired boy.

“See, I’ve told you, my dad is much bigger than Mr. Brown.He could totally take him down,” gloated Connor.

“He’s your dad?” looked up the other boy in awe. “Wow, you are big as my dad’s bodyguard,” addressed the boy Oliver as they stopped in front of him.

“Hi guys. How was school?” asked them Oliver.

“It was _sooo_ cool. This is Leo, my new best friend. Leo, this is my dad, Oliver Queen,” made the introductions Connor proudly.

"Sir," held out his hand Leo in a well-practiced manner that reminded Oliver the way he had to behave in the boy's age in adult company.

“It’s nice to meet you, Leo,” Oliver greeted him as seriously as he would a grownup and shook the boy’s hand.

As the boys continued their conversation a young brunette ran up to them calling Leo’s name, but eyeing Oliver up and down with appreciation.

“Hi, I’m Jessica, Leo’s nanny. And you are?” asked the woman in a voice that she deemed seductive pushing her chest out and batting her eyelashes, knowing exactly whom she was talking to.

Old Ollie would have totally gone for the hot nanny, but now her attempts just fell flat. Oliver only had eyes for one woman, and she definitely wasn’t from the teenage wet dream variety.

“I’m Oliver Queen, and this is my son, Connor,” he introduced himself, and pulled Connor in front of him to avoid offering his hand without being too rude. “I’m sorry, but we’re in a bit of a hurry, so if you’ll excuse us... Connor, say bye, we have stuff to do. Leo, Jessica,” he nodded toward them and turned to leave.

“Bye Leo, see you tomorrow,” waved Connor and caught up to Oliver.

In the car Connor gave Oliver and Diggle the detailed description of his day, and the men just listened with rapt attention.

Once at QC to take care of some paperwork, Oliver went back to his office, while Connor run to fill Felicity in about his day as well.

As Oliver finished he heard his son and Felicity talking and laughing in her office, so he peeked in to spy on them. They were sitting on the couch munching on her secret stash of gummy bears she usually kept hidden in her drawers while the boy talked a mile in a minute, but she just nodded with a soft smile on her face; no surprise she could keep up with his ramblings.

“... and then Leo’s nanny came up to us and in a weird voice she started to talk to dad... I mean Oliver. And she blinked like this,” Felicity laughed out at his demonstration, “and then we left coz Oliver said we’re in a hurry.”

“You know, you can call him dad, if you’d like. And I’m glad you had a good day,” smiled the blonde and ruffled the boys hair.

They lapsed into a small silence, but Oliver was stood hidden hoping for them to continue, made no moves to enter the room.

“Lis, do you wanna have dinner with us?” looked up Connor expectantly.

Oliver couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face by his son’s genius idea. Connor was inadvertently helping along his plan of getting closer to Felicity.

“You should ask your dad first, see if he’s okay with it.”

“He’s more than okay with it,” said Oliver walking in the office.

“You know what happens to lurkers?” smirked Felicity.

“They get the information?” smiled Oliver at her innocently. He sat down next to his son and picked up some candies.

“Yeah, right,” Felicity gave him a disapproving glance.

“O-oh, you’re in trouble,” snickered Connor.

“He’s always in trouble. But what should he do to make up for his ninja spying?”

Oliver realized, the other two were teaming up against him was the real threat. Waiting for a verdict by the two laughing mischievously made him more worried then the thought of ten armed guards in a highly explosive drug lab. But the two simply ignored him and huddled together to whisper furiously.

“We came to a decision,” started Felicity in an overly serious tone. Oliver gulped in fear, but the sparkling in his eyes sold him out.

“I’m not going to like it, am I?” grumbled Oliver hesitantly.

“Relax, it’s not like we’re gonna beat you or something," rolled Felicity her eyes. "Connor?” she urged the boy to deliver the final decision.

“We want burgers. Aaaand milkshakes. With whipped cream and sprinkles. And a movie with popcorn, lots of popcorn-“ Felicity cleared her throat to remind the boy on something. “Oh, and she wants ice cream _and_ we want _you_ to deliver it to the movie room.”

Connor nodded at the end of every item like he was ticking them one by one off a list.

Oliver bit back a laugh, but he couldn’t hide his amusement, looking at Felicity, he saw she was doing the same.

“I’ll comply to your decision. Shall we leave, so I can begin to pay my dues?” ginned Oliver as they stood up.

“Yes, but we don’t appreciate the mockery,” retorted Felicity.

 

An hour later Felicity and Connor were wedged out on the large couch/bed/slice-of-heaven in the theater room, when Oliver arrived with large takeout bags and a tray in his hands. He really took advantage of his improved hand-eye coordination bringing up the three shakes and burgers, some sodas, ice cream and the popcorn in one go.

“My Lady,” he bowed dramatically as he passed her a burger, then repeated the motion for Connor addressing him as ‘Kind Sir’ and took place on the couch sandwiching the boy between himself and Felicity.

Naturally they pigged out right away on the food, covering everything in popcorn.They passed the ice cream around, taking bites of it between sips of shake until there were only the empty cups left.

Somewhere along the movie Connor slid down the couch, put his head in Felicity’s lap, then proceeded to put his feet in Oliver’s. The boy’s soft snores soon filled the room.

Even before Connor fell asleep, Oliver was painfully aware of every move Felicity made in the darkness of the room; in the beginning she munched on food, then cleaned every bit of sauce from the burger box in 17 moves, licking her finger thoroughly every damn time. She slid her glasses up her nose in average 213 seconds. She smoothed back the boy’s hair every few seconds – he didn’t time that one.

Well into the movie Oliver pulled out his best high school moves; he yawned, laid his arm on the backrest, 83 seconds later Felicity let her head rest on Oliver's arm, another 176 seconds after that Oliver picked up a strand of her hair and started to play with it.

If anyone had asked him later, he wouldn’t have been able to tell which movie they'd watched, just that her hair was really silky and that she had a ticklish spot on the tip of her shoulder.

As the credits began to roll they looked down at his son.

“He’s been knocked out for an hour, must have had an exciting day,” said Felicity swiping the boy’s hair out of his forehead.

“He’s gonna need a haircut soon,” she murmured absentmindedly for herself.

“We all had an exciting day, I guess. But it’s still early, why don’t you pick another movie while I put him to bed?” he lifted the boy’s body carefully as it were the most precious and fragile item and checked to see, if he had woken up, but the boy was dead to the world.

“Are you sure?” looked up the woman at him.

“Yeah, I even bring you some wine.”

She just nodded repeatedly with a huge eager smile on her face waiting for a good day to become even better.

 


End file.
